A torpedo fell from an altitude of 10,000 meters, a pair of flap wings popped out of its back, and then flew out like a cruise missile, pounced on the target sea, and then plunged headlong into the water and rushed to the opponent's nuclear submarine.
【HAAWC attack screen】
This is a state-of-the-art American P-8A anti-submarine aircraft that is over the Pacific Ocean searching for rival nuclear submarines. The P-8A anti-submarine aircraft first received a signal from the US Navy's "Poseidon" unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, judged the general orientation of the nuclear submarine, and then airdropped sonar, accurately locked the target, and then directly dropped torpedoes at an altitude of 10,000 meters.
In the open information, there has never been a country in the world that can throw torpedoes from an altitude of 10,000 meters, but the United States is the first to do it. Doing so could pose a great threat to the adversary's nuclear submarines.
In the traditional impression, the torpedoes dropped by the aircraft only have the links of aerial throwing - parachute slowdown - entering the water and starting the machine, but in the aforementioned attack process, the steps of high-altitude throwing and gliding flight are added.
What model of torpedo is this? Why is there such a special attack?
It turned out that this was prepared by the US Navy for the P-8A "Poseidon" anti-submarine patrol aircraft, a high-altitude anti-submarine combat weapon, abbreviated as HAAWC, transliterated as "Hawker". Just in late November, the U.S. Navy announced that the Hawker had achieved what it called initial operational capability and could theoretically enter actual combat deployment.
【P-8A Launches HAAWC Continuous Screen】
The concept of "Hawker" is actually not complicated, can be understood as the combination of glide guidance components and Mk54 light anti-submarine torpedoes, the core of which is called the "air launch kit" glide guidance component, which has a GPS guidance module and a data link module, which can assist the torpedo to fly to the designated target area, if the torpedo needs to change the attack direction in the middle, it can also be corrected within a certain period of time using the onboard data link.
In order to minimize costs and control risks, Boeing has given full play to the "take-it-ism" and chose to use mature weapon systems to improve. The Hawker's air-launched kit consists of a glider wing assembly derived from the Slam-ER and a GPS guidance assembly derived from the 500-pound Jedam guided bomb.
【HAAWC Test Status】
This 1+1 scheme allows the Mk54 torpedo to fly more than 32 kilometers in the air, and the theoretical maximum allowable launch altitude is close to 33,000 feet, which is equivalent to an altitude of 10,000 meters. "Hawk" greatly expands the strike capabilities of anti-submarine patrol aircraft, aviation anti-submarine platforms.
Typical light anti-submarine torpedoes can be delivered by ships, fixed-wing aircraft, and helicopters, but in order to ensure the safety of torpedoes, this placement height is strictly limited. For example, the U.S. Navy stipulates that the Mk54 torpedo cannot be dropped at an altitude of more than 100 feet, which is almost 30.5 meters.
That is, flying platforms such as the P-3C and Seahawk need ultra-low altitude flight when dropping torpedoes. Helicopters are good to say, P-3C, a four-engine anti-submarine aircraft, needs a little technology to fly at ultra-low altitudes. At a time when submarines are beginning to try to install anti-aircraft missiles, low-flying anti-submarine aircraft are actually at risk of being countered.
[Seahawk helicopter drops Mk54 torpedo]
Even so, air-dropped torpedoes require the use of a deceleration parachute to control the attitude and speed of entry into the water.
This is actually very understandable, light anti-submarine torpedoes are actually not light, for example, the full weight of the Mk54 reaches 276 kg, if this weight is dropped from a height, the torpedo is likely to have an accident when entering the water.
In this way, the difficulty of launching torpedoes at high altitude has increased significantly.
Torpedo is a fairly sophisticated underwater weapon, such as the sonar of the head is difficult to withstand high-intensity impact, so the attitude and speed of the torpedo into the water is very limited. If the speed of entry is too fast, the surface tension may damage some components, and in severe cases, the torpedo's body will be ruptured.
[P-8A launches Mk54 torpedo]
After Boeing equipped the Mk54 torpedo with a mature air-launched kit, it found that the real difficulty was in the test, in order to make the torpedo can be launched normally at the cruising altitude of the P-8A, and can enter the water with a reasonable attitude and speed, the difficulty is actually very large, and it is possible to make this bigger by the accurate cooperation of the glider wing and the parachute.
From 2016 to 2022, Boeing conducted multiple experiments before barely meeting the Navy's standards this year, and only in August did it secure a $120 million full-speed production contract. Even so, restrictions on the Hawk remained, and the U.S. Navy explicitly required the P-8A crew to keep the speed and altitude of the aircraft within the limits when dropping torpedoes.
But even so, the Hawk has greatly increased the U.S. Navy's shore-based aviation anti-submarine capabilities. The P-8A is the first anti-submarine patrol aircraft developed based on twin-engine jet trunk airliners in human history, with a range, flight altitude, flight speed, and payload far exceeding the four-engine turboprop platforms such as the P-3C and the air submarine-200, which means that the P-8A's surveillance range on the sea surface and underwater will be several times that of the propeller platform.
【HAAWC Crackdown Process】
Anti-submarine weapons such as "Hawker" can allow the P-8A to directly launch torpedoes at close cruising altitude and hit underwater targets found by radar or sonar buoys, and the reaction speed and strike range are greatly improved, without worrying about being countered by light anti-aircraft weapons, in a sense, it can also be regarded as an anti-submarine torpedo outside the defense area.
What's more, the P-8A, which cruises at medium and high altitudes, is very suitable for combating nuclear submarines with faster submarines. The maximum speed of common attack nuclear submarines can reach 30-35 knots, while the P-8A's cruising speed is about 815 kilometers per hour, which is about 440 knots, a speed difference of more than ten times, enough to make it difficult for nuclear submarines to hide their whereabouts.
With the "Hawker", which can fly 32 km, the range of the original Mk54 torpedo area of 9 km is no longer a problem, and the threat of the P-8A to nuclear submarines has further increased.
【HAWWC Model】
Due to the low sensitivity and low attention of military aircraft such as anti-submarine patrol aircraft, the United States exports P-8A almost unrestricted, and India, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, South Korea and Germany are already users of the P-8A. From the Yellow Sea to the East China Sea to the South China Sea, there are already many P-8A active around the mainland.
【P-8A common strike three-piece】
In addition to the candy-like U.S. Navy, the Australian Air Force has deliberately deployed two P-8As in the Philippines to monitor the South China Sea. The activity of these cutting-edge anti-submarine aircraft has posed a threat to the deployment of mainland Type 093 attack nuclear submarines and even Type 094 strategic nuclear submarines, and how to defend and counter these anti-submarine aircraft that do not need to fly at ultra-low altitudes has also become an important issue at present.